Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey was a Chicago radio man whose melodious voice and hearty "Hello, America" were cherished by millions for more than 57 years on national broadcasts that were an entrancing mix of news, storytelling and gently persuasive salesmanship. He died at the age of 90 on Feb. 28, 2009.

Harvey's show, "The Rest of the Story," reached an estimated 24 million listeners on more than 1,200 radio stations nationally and 400 Armed Forces Radio stations around the world. In Chicago, Harvey was heard on WGN-AM 720, but his local ties ran deeper.

Returning to civilian life after a three-month stint in the Army, Harvey moved to the radio big-time in Chicago. While broadcasting the news at WENR-AM in Chicago's Merchandise Mart in 1951, Harvey became friends with the building's owner, Joseph P. Kennedy, who helped him get on ABC nationally.

Harvey's 45-minute routine started at 3:30 a.m., when the alarm clock would ring in the family's 22-room home in River Forest, Ill. It never varied: brush teeth, shower, shave, get dressed, eat oatmeal, get into car and drive downtown.

His five-minute "The Rest of the Story" broadcasts featured historical vignettes with surprise endings like the story of the 13-year-old boy who receives a cash gift from Franklin Roosevelt and turns out to be Fidel Castro. Or the one about the famous trial lawyer who never finished law school (Clarence Darrow). He'd end each broadcast with his signature: "Paul Harvey. [long pause] Good day!"

Born Paul Harvey Aurandt in Tulsa on Sept. 4, 1918. He and his sister were raised by their mother after their police officer father was killed in the line of duty when Harvey was 3. He dropped his last name for professional reasons in the 1940s.

Beginning as an unpaid gofer at a Tulsa radio station in 1933, Harvey worked his way up the radio ladder.

While working in St. Louis, Harvey met Lynne Cooper, a student-teacher from a socially prominent family who read school news announcements. Instantly smitten with the young woman he nicknamed "Angel," Harvey later asked her to dinner. On the night of their first date, he proposed as they sat in her parked car. They married in June 1940. Lynne Harvey remained her husband's closest professional collaborator until she died in May 2008.

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